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GREEN
Mamba
The US Open returns to Oakmont CC for the 10th time this month, with players set to face one of the toughest tests in golf
By BRENDAN BARRATT
Oakmont Country Club might not be rated the most difficult golf course in the US, but it’s not far off. With a course rating of 77.5 and a slope rating of 150 (out of a maximum of 155), a 10-handicapper would play off a course handicap of 21 from the championship tees – and still struggle to shoot anywhere near their handicap.
There are – officially – 20 courses in the US that are more difficult. Some you may have heard of, such as the South Course at Kiawah Island, TPC Sawgrass and Pine Valley, others not – but most are probably best avoided unless you’re a highly accomplished player, or a sucker for punishment.
But by the time the 125th US Open tees off, on the morning of 12 June, Oakmont will likely be the most difficult golf course players face all year.
Naturally, it will be lengthy, and the rough will be grown thick and long to gobble up any errant shots, but it is around the greens complexes where the players will face their greatest challenge.
LAST FIVE CHAMPIONS
2024 Bryson DeChambeau
2023 Wyndham Clark
2022 Matt Fitzpatrick
2021 Jon Rahm
2020 Bryson DeChambeau
Gallery below
Oakmont’s putting surfaces have always been notably large, but when course architect Gil Hanse studied images of the golf course from the 1920s and 1930s he noticed that, over time, the greens had eroded dramatically in size. In preparation for this month’s US Open, Hanse made numerous tweaks to the course in 2023 and 2024. The first thing he did was add 24 000 square feet to the greens.
He also had the hazards rebuilt and overhauled the course’s bunkers – nearly 200 of them. The final piece of the puzzle was the drainage system, which was modernised to ensure the course looks and plays like the windswept layout it was originally designed to be. With no trees and few water hazards, it will play hard and fast, almost links-like.
Which brings us back to the greens, which will be as firm as they can possibly get them. Sam Snead once joked that he tried to mark his ball on an Oakmont green, but his coin slipped off.
‘The greens are the course’s No 1 defence,’ said Mike McCormick, Oakmont’s course superintendent. ‘Oakmont, in today’s world, is not a crazy long golf course. There are several holes out here the players will be hitting wedges into and it puts even more of an emphasis on the greens.’
MAJOR WIN
See how the 24-year-old Ernie Els became the youngest US Open champion in nearly two decades, when he edged Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts in the 1994 US Open playoff at Oakmont CC.
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‘The greens are the course’s No 1 defence’
– Mike McCormick
While South Africans will fondly remember Oakmont as the scene of Ernie Els’ first Major title – his playoff victory over Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts for the 1994 US Open – it is also the site of arguably the greatest round of golf in Major history.
In 1973, Johnny Miller started the final round six shots back of leaders Arnold Palmer, Jerry Heard, John Schlee and Julius Boros. The American got off to a blistering start and birdied the first four holes. His charge seemed to have stalled when he made a bogey on the 8th hole, but birdies on four of the next five saw him join the leaders. He made another birdie on the 15th and parred his way home to shoot a remarkable round of 63 and win by a shot over Schlee.
Miller found 13 out of 14 fairways and all 18 greens in regulation, needing only 29 putts. Remarkably, only three other players broke 70 all day.
‘I aimed away from the pin only three times,’ he later recalled. ‘My swing was so on that even danger pins became green-light situations. I felt I couldn’t be stopped. The secret of that 63 is the fact I shot it on a Sunday and it was enough to win the US Open in Arnold Palmer’s back yard. There will be guys who shoot 61 or 62, but can they do it on a Sunday to win?’
Will there be another 63 lurking at the 2025 US Open at Oakmont? Given the recent course changes and the challenging course set up, I wouldn’t count on it.
HISTORY MAKER
Watch Johnny Miller's final hole of the 1973 US Open at Oakmont CC, where he finished with a championship-record 63 to claim the title.
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FLYING THE FLAG FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Christiaan Bezuidenhout will be making his fourth US Open start after being among 30 players to qualify for the 2024 Tour Championship. His best finish at the Major is T31st, at Torrey Pines Golf Course in 2021.
Thriston Lawrence is set to make his second US Open start – his first was in 2023 – thanks to being among the top two finishers on the DP World Tour’s 2024 Race to Dubai who was not already exempt.
Jacques Kruyswijk, who clinched his maiden DP World Tour tile in February, will make his US Open debut after advancing from a six-for-three playoff at the England qualifier in May after he shot 66 and 71 at Walton Heath Golf Club.
Erik van Rooyen will make his sixth US Open start after earning medallist honours at the final qualifier held in Columbus. He posted 13-under 131 at Kinsale Golf & Fitness Club, which included a course record-equalling 64 in the morning session.
FRED VUICH/JEFF HAYNES/USGA/PGA OF AMERICA/USGA ARCHIVE/SUPPLIED
